Fast Weltweit - Label-Abend mit Achim Knorr, Frank Spilker, Bernadette La Hengst und Michael Girke

In the organizer's words:

674FM presents

Fast Weltweit - Label evening with Achim Knorr, Frank Spilker, Bernadette La Hengst and Michael Girke

The invention of the Hamburger Schule with a reading from the book of the same name by Christof Dörr

with concerts by:

Der Fremde

Reunion after 30 years with comedian Achim Knorr, Frank Spilker (Die Sterne) on bass and Andreas Reth (Grüner Star) on drums

Bernadette La Hengst

The front woman of the beat-pop girl band "Die Braut haut ins Auge" reveals why she can sing so loudly

Now!

Songwriter Michael Girke with songs that can really be friends

Book review: Almost Worldwide - how the Hamburg School was invented in East Westphalia

Bad Salzuflen is one of the places where pop music history was written, alongside London, New York and Memphis/Tennessee.

After all, the East Westphalian pilgrimage destination for the over-70s generation was at the beginning of what would later become famous as the "Hamburg School" of German pop.

The label "Fast Weltweit", which had converted a garage into a recording studio, was where the threads came together in the early 80s: Jochen Distelmeyer, who was to invent what was then called "discourse pop" with "Blumfeld", was part of it with the band "Die Bienenjäger", Frank Spilker had already founded his "Sterne" here, which sounded very different from later; Bernadette Hengst, the founder of the band "Die Braut haut ins Auge", was there, as was Bernd Begemann, who was mobbed by the Hamburg scene in the 90s, and the later DJ Mijk van Dijk, Achim Knorr, who now performs as a comedian, as well as Sandra and Kersty Grether, who invented pop feminism in Germany.

Hessian music journalist Christof Dörr now tells the story of this label, which emerged from the spirit of New German Wave and the 80s, in a chorus of contemporary witnesses' voices.

Ten of the eleven musicians interviewed answered his questions - only Jochen Distelmeyer remained silent. He was also the one who drove Blumfeld's success by brusquely distancing himself from his almost-worldwide past.

How he caught a slap in the face from Kersty Grether is described for the first time in the book - but also how consciously and strategically these music careers were steered.

Christof Dörr occasionally intersperses external judgments in the form of quotes between the participants' speeches, which make for a lively, varied and authentic narrative style. This documentary collage about an important chapter in modern music is also a piece of pop.

JD, WAZ July 2025